Smart announces 7th SWEEP Awards finalists

MANILA, Philippines - Ten made it to the finals of the 7th SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards out of 133 entries from 26 partner schools from all over the country.

The annual award is Smart Communications Inc.’s search for the most innovative wireless solutions to address concerns of the community. This year, teams from Smart’s partner schools under the Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP) were challenged with the theme “Empowering Communities through Wireless Technologies.”

Six finalists came from Luzon and Metro Manila schools. University of Baguio’s Self-Sustaining Street Lights with Wireless Monitoring System hopes to generate electricity from moving vehicles.

Ateneo de Naga University’s Community-Driven Social Welfare and Emergency Response Information System manages an array of services such as a missing persons’ directory, ambulance and fire assistance request, and resources/equipment directory.

Bulacan State University addresses the dengue epidemic with the 3D: Dengue Detecting Device. Its benefits include being very scalable, easy to build, portable and fast in delivery of results.

Two Batangas State University teams made it to the finals. SMART Farmbihira is an SMS-based Automated Drip Irrigation System. SMART Power Vendo, a GSM-based Prepaid Electricity System has energy monitoring, SMS inquiries capability and electricity management features.

The Flood Alert System Using Smart SMS Technology from the Mapua Institute of Technology seeks to aid in disaster preparedness from storms and floods.

The 10 finalists will move on to develop the prototypes for their projects and improve their applications based on the recommendations of the judges.

Cash prizes await the top three winning teams, with corresponding grants awarded to their schools. First prize is P500,000; second prize, P300,000; and third prize, P150,000.

To represent the Visayas region is the University of San Carlos team with the Preventive Illegal Logging Monitoring Endeavor (PRIME). The project has an alteration/tamper detection mechanism, which sends SMS upon chainsaw-sound detection, thus providing a 24/7 monitoring of forests.

In Mindanao, the University of Southeastern Philippines team offers an environmentally friendly alternative to fuel-run generators with the Hydrogen-Fueled Electric Generator. Ateneo de Zamboanga University’s contender is the Automated Load Retailer System (ALRS), a public device that automatically reloads cellphones anywhere and anytime.

The Overload Monitoring for Davao City Marine Transportation from the Holy Cross of Davao College is designed to avert overloading in marine vessels. Once the system detects overloading of a small vessel, it will transmit data via SMS to the appropriate agencies such as the Maritime Industry Authority and Philippine Coast Guard.

The projects were selected for their market potential, technical viability, innovation, and social impact and relevance.

Final judging, which includes an evaluation of the working models and team presentations, is slated in March 2011.

The search is part of SWEEP, an industry-academe partnership which Smart launched in 2003 to help elevate the level of engineering and technology education, particularly in the field of Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE).